[Droid Incredible Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kirkers:
USB Cable connection issues

I will pass on the "ramdisk magic" and accept the 750MB limit at least for the time being. I still have around 400MB free anyway, so it is not as if I have a truly pressing need, and I worry about creating more "broken" situations as I apparently did with my old stock rooted Ginber Bread.

Regarding USB -- When Android (USB) Debugging is OFF, I get a pop-up screen named "USB Mass Storage" giving me the option to press the button "Turn on USB Storage". Once pressed, and after a bit of a wait (usually 2-3 minutes) I gain access to the "removable drives" related to the sdcard and internal phone storage. When I press the "Turn off USB storage" on the USB Mass Storage screen, the removable drives disappear from Windows Explorer. To operate Titanium Backup, I need to turn Debugging ON (it notifies me to do so or face consequences).

I ran "ADB devices" in a command box while DINC was in Debugging mode, and ADB found the DINC without trouble. I'm not quite sure what this proves, Tiny, as I am a relative novice in such deeper technical matters.

So given what Tiny said about USB drivers, I decided to dig deeper.

Device Manager reporteed the driver I am using is provided by Google (via the Android SDK Extras, I presume), signed by Wondershare (makers of MobileGo Android device manager for Windows, which I use), version 1.0.15.0 dated 2012-11-21.

I tried to change the driver to one of the ones I used in the past (DINC-does-it, unrEVOked), but each time I got an error message saying "Windows found driver for your device but encountered an error.... The data is invalid." Happened with both drivers, AND when I went to revert to Google version 1.0.15.0.

Even with no driver installed (marked as "unknown device"), plugging in the DINC with debugging ON brought up the USB Mass Storage screen. Pressing the connect button ALLOWED access to sdcard and internal storage. ADB however fails to list the device without a proper driver. So I could be in serious trouble if I cannot connect via ADB.

When I launched Wondershare MobileGo on my PC, it tried to auto-install the driver repeatedly. It reported 100% progress, but then reported a connection failure after repeated tries.

I deleted the "unknown device" (what used to be Android Phone), disconnected + reconnected the USB cable. Windows Update tried to install a driver by searching online, and also (quickly) failed.

So I was without a USB driver, and therefore without access to ADB and Fastboot (which I have not used except in the most dire emergencies once or twice with Gingerbread some time ago).

With no USB driver installed

--

1. When Debugging was turned ON: MobileGo connects properly, internal phone storage connects properly, too. BUT NO USB ACCESS TO THE SDCARD.

2. When Debugging was turned OFF: NOW USB ACCESS WORKS FOR SDCARD, but when I launch MobileGo on Win7 PC it asks me to turn on Debugging.

3. Once Debugging turned ON again: MobileGo AUTO-INSTALLS THE WONDERSHARE/GOOGLE USB driver (Android Composite ADB Interface, vsn 1.0.15.0 dated 2012-11-21) and establishes USB connections to sdcard and internal phone storage. ADB working again (reporting DINC in "devices").

At this point, everything seems normal. I can disconnect and reconnect the USB cable while Debugging is turned on, and ADB and MobileGo work as expected. Also, once I click on the "Turn on USB Storage" I can get access to the sdcard and internal phone storage on my PC. I would call this normal behaviour.

Has the issue now been resolved, or is likely to recur? :fingers-crossed:

I am concerned that I must at this point rely on the mysteries of MobileGo to get a driver installed. When I try manual installation of any other driver (including the Google driver included in the Android SDK), I get a "data is invalid" fatal error.

What should I try next, if anything? :confused: